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Johannesburg - Malaysian Airline authorities failed to
co-operate with the family and widow of Cameron Dalziel, the Durban born
helicopter pilot who was onboard the ill-fated flight MH17 when it was shot
down over the Ukraine on Thursday.

According to the Sunday Independent, the Malaysian
authorities had still not made contact with Dalziel’s wife, Reine, two days
after the crash. This despite his sister, Candice, having provided Reine’s
details to airline officials no fewer than three times.

When the Sunday Independent contacted officials, an
airline spokesperson said: “He is not the only person who died. It is taking
time to verify details of the passengers.”

In addition to this, the airline has refused to confirm
to Dalziel’s Umhlanga Rocks based parents, Meryil and Doug, that their son’s
name was on the flight manifest.

Dalziel was travelling on a British passport but was
raised in Durban. He had recently moved to Malaysia with his wife and two sons
and was returning home from the Netherlands after a work-related trip.

Meanwhile, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on
Sunday said the Ukraine crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was
"absolutely chaotic", and he feared interference with the evidence
would continue.

Abbott's call joined a growing chorus of outrage from
world leaders demanding Russia's full co-operation with what is becoming a
monumentally challenging probe into the shooting down of MH17, bound from
Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 298 people from a dozen countries on board.

Twenty-eight Australian nationals were on the flight.
Abbott said recovering the bodies was a priority.

Abbott said several attempts to reach the wreckage, which
is strewn across a large area, were hampered by the conflict.

Australia is pushing for a full and impartial
investigation into the crash, but Abbott said a key difficulty was that there
was "no-one in authority in charge on the ground".

‘Unacceptable’

The United States has meanwhile condemned
"unacceptable" security at the site.

"The site is not secure, and there are multiple
reports of bodies being removed, parts of the plane and other debris being
hauled away, and potential evidence tampered with," state department
spokesperson Jen Psaki said in a statement on Saturday.

"This is unacceptable and an affront to all those
who lost loved ones and to the dignity the victims deserve."

The state department has said monitors from the
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe were only allowed 75
minutes at the site on Friday, and less than three hours on Saturday.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said late on
Saturday it was "understood" that insurgents "have agreed to
create a safe passage for the recovery and investigation team".

"We hope they will do so as this is a serious event
and they must all demonstrate compassion for the countries affected and the
innocent victims," he said in a Facebook post after meeting relatives of
some of the 44 Malaysian passengers on board the doomed flight.

"We will do our best to bring back the victims of
the tragedy," he said.

‘Deeply
unsatisfactory’

Abbott, who on Friday branded the disaster a
"crime" and slammed Russia's initial response as "deeply
unsatisfactory", refused to say whether he had tried to contact Russian
President Vladimir Putin.

"The Russians, as everyone has seen over the last 48
hours, are trying to wash their hands of this," he said.

"But it is impossible for Russia to wash its hands
of something which happened in what is effectively Russian-controlled
territory, it seems at the hands of Russian-backed individuals, most likely
with a Russian supplied or facilitated weapon."

Abbott said the tragedy touched the nation deeply given
that 36 onboard called Australia home. Services were to be held on Sunday for
those who died.

"We can't let our emotions cloud our judgment but
nevertheless these are wrenching times and there would hardly be an Australian
who hasn't been emotionally touched by what we've seen, what we've felt over
the last 48 hours or so," Abbott said.

"You look at the faces of the dead and they're your
neighbours, they're your friends, they could be your kids... There are 36
people who call Australia home who have been snuffed out."

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